Cheek plate for briquetting apparatus



Dec. 29, 1970 J, R, GUSEMAN ETAL 3,550,205

CHEEK PLATE FOR BRIQUET'I'ING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 15, 1968 2Sheets-Sheet 1 u f nun DUDE] nun u n 41 ll I mmvrans .mmrs R. case-m a00mm 5. ROHAUS W c/i gm Attorneys Dec. 29, 1970 GUSEMAN ETAL 3,550,205

' CHEEK PLATE FOR BRIQUETTING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 15, 1968 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS JAMES R. GUSEMAN 8 DONALD E: ROI-MUS AttorneyUnited States Patent 3,550,205 CHEEK PLATE FOR BRIQUE'ITING APPARATUSJames R. Guseman, North Huntingdon, and Donald E. Rohaus, Monroeville,Pa., assignors to United States Steel Corporation, a corporation ofDelaware Filed Nov. 15, 1968, Ser. No. 776,040

Int. Cl. B29c 3/02 US. C]. 18-21 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Animproved cheek plate for use in enclosing the space between the rolls ofapparatus for briquetting granular material, such as iron ore fines. Thecheek pate has a lower section pivotally connected to a fixed uppersection. As the surface on the lower section exposed to the iron orewears away, the lower section can be pivoted to plug the gap left by theworn surface.

This invention relates to apparatus for briquetting granular material,such as iron ore fines. More particularly, the invention relates to animproved cheek plate that is used to enclose the space between thebriquetting rolls of such apparatus.

Briquetting machines, or briquetting apparatus, are used throughout thesteel industry, as well as non-ferrous industries to agglomerate orefines and other granular solids to form pellets or briquettes. With mostapparatus, a screw feeder force feeds granular material between twocounter-rotating, pocketed briquetting rolls. Cheek plates are placed oneither side of the space between the briquetting rolls to prevent thegranular material from escaping laterally from between the rolls. Thesecheek plates are subject to great wear by the abrasive action of thegranular material under pressure from the screw feeder above the checkplates.

The cheek plates wear away fastest at their bottom ends, which arenearest to where the lariquetting rolls come together. This wearing awayleaves a space for the granular material to escape at a graduallyincreasing rate, which causes considerable problems. For instance, whennew cheek plates are installed in an iron ore briquetting apparatus, therate of leakage of iron fines from around the cheek plates is about toof the rate at which the fines are fed through the screw feeder. As thecheek plates wear away, this leakage rate increases to about or When thecheek plates allow that much material to escape, it is considereduneconomical to continue to operate the briquetting apparatus. Theapparatus must, therefore, be shut down and the cheek plates replaced.Shutdowns for repair or replacement of check plates have been requiredabout three times as often as the shutdowns for resurfacing of thebriquetting rolls. These frequent shutdowns are expensive, mainlybecause of the loss of valuable production time.

Existing cheek plates also cause a process control problem, arising fromthe increasing rate at which the granular material leaks from around thecheek plates. It is difficult to determine the granular materialrequirements for a given briquetting apparatus when there is a varyingrate of material leakage through the cheek plates of the apparatus.

One way of reducing the maintenance on the cheek plate has been to makethe entire cheek plate, or at least the face thereof, of anabrasive-resistant alloy, so that the cheek plate will not wear out asfast. However, the tendency of abrasive-resistant alloys to be brittlehas a serious disadvantage in this application. The cheek plates aresubject to the great pressure of the adjacent granular material that isbeing compressed by the screw feeder, and this pressure is enough tocrack brittle alloy components 3,550,205 Patented Dec. 29, 1970 of thecheek plate. Also, the abrasive-resistant alloys, like other materials,wear away gradually, and the problem of an irregular leakage rate stillexists.

Therefore it is an object of our invention to provide an improved cheekplate for briquetting granular material that is adjustable to compensatefor wear, requires less frequent replacement than past cheek plates, andkeeps the leakage of the granular material from around the cheek plateto a constant low rate.

This and other objects will appear more readily from the followingdetailed description of our invention, and the attached drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is an elevation of apparatus for briquetting granular materialsuch as iron ore fines, with a portion thereof broken away;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the apparatus of FIG. 1, with a portion thereofbroken away;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of the apparatus of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a portion of the apparatus shown in FIG.1, taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, apparatus 2 includes briquetting rolls 4that are provided with pockets 6. The rolls 4 have shafts 4a journaledin bearings 7, and the rolls rotate in the directions shown by arrows a(FIG. 1). At the line of contact XX of the rolls 4, the pockets 6 ofeach roll come together to compress loose iron ore into a briquette.

The loose iron ore feeds into the pockets 6 just above line XX (FIG. 2),by means of a screw feeder 8, rotating in a conical hopper 10. On eitherside of the space between the rolls 4, immediately above the line XX,are cheek plates 12. These cheek plates prevent the ore particles fromescaping laterally from between the rolls 4, while they are beingpressed by the screw feeder 8 into the pockets 6 of the rolls.

According to our invention each cheek plate 12, as shown in detail inFIGS. 3 and 4 has a fixed top section 14 attached by bolt 15 to wall 16of the supporting framework of the apparatus 2. Dished surface 18 on topsection 14 directs granular ore from the conical hopper 10 inwardly intothe area between the converging pockets 6 of rolls 4. A concave surface19 forms the underside of top section 14, and a post 20 hangs from thecenter of surface 19. Each cheek plate 12 also has a movable section 21,which pivots about a pin 22 at the bottom end of post 20. Slot 23 inmovable section 21 accommodates the post 20 and allows about a 20rotation of the movable section 21 about pin 22. Top surface 24 ofmovable section 21 is preferably in the shape of a circle centered aboutpin 22, so that there is no interference with the top section 12 whenthe movable section 21 is pivoted. The movable section 21 is maintainedat its desired angular position about pin 22 by a threaded rod 26, whichis pivotally connected to the movable section 21 by a pin 30. The rod 26passes through hole 32 in wall 16, and a nut 34 threadably engages therod 26 on the side of the wall 16 opposite from the cheek plate. Coverplate 36 is mounted on wall 16 and keeps the nut 34 from movingoutwardly from the wall, so that one may adjust the position of movablesection 21 by turning the nut 34 on the rod 26. The forward and backwardadjustment of movable section 21 is limited by the rear or front wall ofslot 23 engaging the post 20.

The movable section 21 has a wear surface 37 facing the briquettingrolls 4. The side edges of wear surface 37 do not quite contact the sidesurfaces 38 of the rolls 4, but these surfaces are brought close enoughto form a substantially closed chamber for the iron ore being pressedinto the pockets 6.

The wear surface 37 of a new movable section 21, such as that on theright side of FIG. 4, is straight and bridges the space between therolls 4 so that little or no iron ore escapes. However, as the apparatusis used, the surface 37 wears away, particularly at its bottom, wherethe greatest abrasive action by the ore particles takes place. Thesurface 37 eventually wears back to chain-line 37' (FIG. 4). If noadjustment is made for such Wear, large amounts of ore will escapebetween the bottom end of the movable section 21 and the briquettingrolls 4-.

To compensate for the wear on cheek plate 12, the operator simply turnsnut 34 to rotate movable section 21 to the position of the worn cheekplate section 21 on the left side of FIG. 4. Even though this section 21has had substantial wear, it still bridges the space between rolls 4almost as well as the new movable section 21 on the right side of FIG.4. The bolts 34 on cheek plates 12 should be turned regularly during useof the apparatus 2, so that as little ore as possible escapes past thecheek plates. For best results this is done by moving wear surfaces 37of movable sections 21 into contact with the side surfaces 3 8 of rolls4 and then turning nut 34 back one or two turns so that the surfaces 37and 38 do not quite contact each other.

By providing the above described movable sections 21 for cheek plates12, an operator of a briquetting apparatus can substantially reduce hisdown-time and costs for maintenance. The movable sections 21 of cheekplates 12 will not have to be removed for repair or replacement nearlyas frequently as the conventional one-piece cheek plates. Also, theadjustment of nuts 34 is a simple operation that enables the operator tokeep the leakage of granular ore from around the cheek plates 12 down toa constant, low rate.

We claim:

1. In apparatus for briquetting granular material having a pair ofbriquetting rolls rotatable about spaced apart parallel axes, and asupport member laterally spaced from said rolls:

an improved cheek plate for containing granular material in the spacebetween said rolls, said cheek plate comprising a movable cheek platesection pivotally connected to said support member and pivotal towardand away from said rolls, means connected to said support member of saidapparatus for holding said movable cheek plate section in a fixedposition about said pivotal axis, said movable cheek plate sectionhaving a face surface which in said fixed position substantially bridgesone lateral side of said space between said briquetting rolls, saidmeans for holding said movable cheek plate section in said fixedposition being adjustable to pivot said cheek plate section to a newposition to compensate for wear on said face surface and maintain saidface surface in a position wherein the surface substantially bridgessaid lateral side of said space between the briquetting rolls. 2. Thecheek plate of claim 1 wherein said adjustable means for holding saidmovable cheek plate section in a fixed position includes a rod pivotedto said movable section, a nut threaded onto said rod, and means on saidsupport member for slidably supporting said rod and for constrainingsaid nut from substantial forward and backward movement in a directionparallel to the axis of said rod.

3. The cheek plate of claim 1 including a top cheek plate section fixedto said support means,

said movable cheek plate section being pivotally connected to said topcheek plate section and positioned between said top cheek plate sectionand said axes of said rolls,

said top cheek plate section having an upper face surface aligned withthe first mentioned face surface of said movable cheek plate section,said upper face surface bridging said lateral side of said space betweensaid briquetting rolls and having a dished out area for directing saidgranular material in front of the face surface of said movable cheekplate section and between said briquetting rolls.

4. The cheek plate of claim 3 wherein said adjustable means for holdingsaid movable cheek plate section in a fixed position includes a rodpivoted to said movable section, a nut threaded onto said rod, and meanson said support member for slidably supporting said rod and forconstraining said nut from substantial forward and backward movement ina direction parallel to the axis of said rod.

5. The cheek plate of claim 4 wherein said movable cheek plate sectionhas a slot facing said top cheek plate section, and said top cheek platesection includes a post extending into said slot,

said cheek plate having means pivotally connecting said post to saidmovable cheek plate section,

the edges of said slot facing toward and away from said briquettingrolls being positioned to allow rotation of said movable cheek platesection about said pivotal connecting means.

6. In apparatus of claim 1 having support members on opposite sides ofsaid rolls:

two improved cheek plates according to claim 1, each of said cheekplates being mounted on one of said support members, and the facesurfaces of said cheek plate sections forming with said briquettingrolls a substantially closed passageway for feeding granular material tosaid briquetting rolls.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,405,788 2/1922 Komarek 2577.2,306,161 12/1942 Frenkel 2577 3,072,043 1/1963 Decker et al. 1821XWILLIAM S. LAWSON, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

